Saturday, March 31, 2012

This Noah's Ark craft has little windows to open and reveal an animal inside. You can print out the template and put it together. I think it would be fun to substitute your own animal pictures in the windows.

Materials:

Noah's Ark template(2 pages)

card stock

crayons

scissors

exacto knife

glue

Directions:

Print out the templates It's best if you can print them on card stock or white construction paper.

Cut out both templates. Use a sharp knife to cut open the window flaps.

Color the front part brown for the ship.

Color the characters on the inside page or substitute your own animals.

Thanks so much to Lisa Davala from Spangler Candy in Bryon, Ohio for sending this in. They're the makers of Circus Peants marshmallow candy and Dum Dum lollipops. You can use Circus Peanuts to make cute Easter carrots to eat alone or decorate on cupcakes, a great and tasty idea.

Squeeze one end of the Circus Peanut; do so until your marshmallow candy comes to a point.

Take toothpick and drag across the top of the circus peanut in a horizontal manner. You can alternate between short lines and longer lines.

When you finish making creases in your marshmallows, mimicking the lines of a real carrot, you are ready to insert the licorice 'carrot tops'.

There are two types of licorice, pull and peel the will automatically be the size you need, however the more readily available type is standard. For this kind, you can make a slit following one of the lines. Cut along each rivet in order to make skinny slivers of licorice.

Take each strip of licorice and cut in half.

Next, use a toothpick to poke a hole in the top of the carrot about half an inch deep (opposite the pointed end).

You may need to make two holes consecutively in order to fit the licorice. Take two-three pieces of licorice and insert the ends into the hole.

Make sure to push them in as far as you can. You can leave the licorice carrot tops longer, or trim them to your liking.

To keep the 'carrots' fresh, you can put them in an airtight container, or plastic zipper bag

*We recommend placing these in Easter baskets, as snacks on the table, and best yet, on top of carrot cake cupcakes!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

This paper plate tutle is simple to make. Use it as a fingerpaintig project for your yongest kids. The colors used here were green and purple. You can change the color scheme, but keep it to 2 colors. If you mix too many, it looks muddy.

Materials:

paper plate

scissors

paints

shallow dishes

google eye

glue

Directions:

Cut the rim off a paper plate and cut the center in half.

Use one half to cut a small simple head, tail, and legs.

Put green and purple paint in dishes. Paint the half circle green with child's fingers and paint head, tail, and legs purple. Dip the end of a toilet paper roll in purple paint and stamp onto the turtle's shell. Allow everything to dry.

Glue pieces onto the back of the turtle. Glue a google eye on the head.

This 4th of July patriotic flag mobile craft is a great way to show your spirit. The original version of this craft pictured here was made from soup can lids and wire, but you can easily adapt this idea to a easier and safer paper craft.

Materials:

soup can

card stock

red and blue markers

white out or white paint pen

dowel rods

red and blue beads

string

hole punch

super glue

Directions:

Use a soup can to trace 9 circles onto white card stock and cut out.

Color the top left quarter of the circle blue. Add red stripes. The first stripe on a flag is red. Add white dots to the blue field for stars with a paint pen or white out. Repeat for all circles.

Punch a hole in the top of each flag circle.

Cut 2 dowel rods about a foot long and tie together in a cross shape.

Add a blue or red bead to the ends with super glue.

Cut 4 pieces of string the same length. Cut 4 more strings longer than the first group. Finally cut 1 string the longest.

Tie all the strings to the flag circles.

Tie the other ends to the dowel cross. Tie the 4 shortest ones on the ends of the dowels, the longer 4 inside those, and the longest one in the middle.

Tie a string o top of the flag mobile and hang up.

Adjust the strings on the dowel to get a good balance.

Variations:

Actually, since we're using paper, the flags don't need to be circles. You could make rectangles.

You could paste both sides o the card stock with 4th of July wrapping paper and cut out the shapes from that.

This 4th of July Star mobile craft is recycled from a cereal box. You'll have loads of fun doing it.

Materials:

cereal box

red and blue paint, brushes

glitter(or red and blue paint with glitter)

newspaper

pencil

star templates

scissors

exacto knife

hole punch

red, white, and blue ribbon

glue

clothespins

Directions:

Completely cut apart a cereal box. Cut off and discard the top and bottom flaps. The front and back panels will be used to make the stars. The side panels the top ring.

Lay down newspaper. Paint the blank side of the front and back panels blue and sprinkle on glitter. Paint the blank side of the side panels red and sprinkle with glitter. Or use glitter paint. Allow to dry.

Trace big and small stars on the printed side of the blue panels and along the red panels.

Cut out the blue stars with scissors. Discard the excess.

Cut out the red stars with an exacto knife.

Glue the 2 red side panels together to make a ring. Secure with clothespins.

Cut different lengths of ribbon. Sandwich the ribbon between 2 stars of the same size with glue.

Punch holes around the bottom of the irng and tie the stars.

Punch holes around the top and tie ribbon to hang up the 4th of July mobile.

This 4th of July fireworks T-shirt craft idea is absolutely fabulous. Use pipe cleaners as a stamp to create this wonderful design. I found this on a great website by an American woman living in Japan like me(I'm a guy). The site has a great video tutorial in English and Japanese. Check it out.

Materials:

T-shirt(a bold, darker color is better)

various color glitter glue

pipe cleaners(color is not important)

Directions:

Take 6 pipe cleaners, fold them on half and twist the fold to make your handle.

Splay out the pipe cleaners in all directions.

Lay your T-shirt own on a flat surface.

Pipe glitter glue over the pipe cleaners. You can use different colors. Turn down and firmly stamp onto the T-shirt. Press down the pipe cleaners with your fingers for a good impression.

Pull off your stamp, turn slightly and stamp again in the same place for a neat effect.

Later, you can cut the pipe cleaners shorter to make smaller fireworks. Allow to dry.

This 4th of July glitter fireworks craft is very simple and fun to make.

Materials:

sheet of black construction paper

white glue

glitter

shallow dish to catch the glitter

Directions:

Use white glue and draw star like fireworks shapes.

Sprinkle glitter over the glue and then pour off the excess into a dish. Do one color glitter at a time as no to mix up the excess. Allow to dry.

Hang up your Independence Day art.

Variations:

Instead you could just use glitter glue. It's easier and produces less wastage, but not quite as fun.

Twist a bunch of pipe cleaners together and fold down the ends into a star shape. Pipe glitter glue on the pipe cleaners and press it onto the paper like a stamp. Turn and stamp several times in the same place for a neat effect. This idea came from the 4th of July Fireworks T-shirt craft. Check it out. Follow the link for a cool video tutorial.

This large 4th of July hand print and footprint flag craft was for the whole class. Mount it on the wall.

Materials:

large sheet of poster paper

red and blue paint

brushes

dishes.

Directions:

Lay the big paper down on the floor. Use a ruler to mark lines with pencil for the blue field and stripes.

Have students dip or brush hands with blue paint and press onto the hands the top left corner of the paper for stars. Alternatively, you could paint a blue field, allow to dry and then make white hand prints.

Dip or brush students feet with red paint and make foot prints in a line for the stripes. Remember, the top and bottom stripes of an American flag are red.

This adorable and flexible 4th of July pom pom flag can be used in many ways.

Materials:

glue gun with glue sticks

metallic red, white, and blue pom poms(1/4 inch size)

small clear rhinestone crystals

1.5x2 inch piece of blue felt

Directions:

Put a dab of glue on each blue pom pom and line them up on the blue felt piece.

Apply little dabs of glue to the top of the blue pom poms and put a rhinestone crystal on top to make the stars. About 12 is good or you could go all out and do 50.

Use the glue gun to make a 2 lines of 5 red pom poms and 1 line of 5 white pom poms. These will be the lines next to the blue field. Hold each line in place until the glue hardens.

Glue together 2 more lines of red and white with 10 pom poms each. Now you have 4 long lines, 2 red, 2 white.

Start with the short red line and glue to the right of the blue field. Apply glue along the red line and attach the white line. Continue this process down the flag. A proper American Flag has a red stripe at the top and bottom.

Paint the toilet paper roll green. If using tempura paint, it looks better is you glue white paper around the toilet roll, fold the excess down inside the ends, and paint on the paper. But you don't have to.

Cut long strips of red tissue paper and tape or glue to the inside of one end of the toilet roll. You could even add a few shorter strips of yellow tissue paper inside the red ones.

Glue on 2 beans for nostrils and 2 pom poms for the eyes. Glue google eyes onto the front of the pom poms. Allow everything to dry.

Kids will have fun blowing through the tube to make the dragon breath fire.

Cut a piece of reflective paper big enough to completely wrap up the bottle.

With the cap on, brush one entire plastic bottle with glue and roll up with reflective paper. Glue down the flap.

Lay down a long strip of gaffer tape, sticky side up.

Start at one end and stick the strips of the long yellow tissue paper in a row. Leave about half the tape uncovered along the opposite edge to stick to the bottle cap. Continue down the tape with the medium red and finally short orange tissue strips. Leave about an inch of tape at the end to secure to the cap.

Starting with the yellow, wrap the tape around the bottle cap by rolling it. Be sure not to catch the tape on the reflective paper.

Repeat the process for the other bottle to make 2 jets.

Tape the 2 jets together in the middle. Double-sided tape works well, or gaffer tape in a loop.

Reinforce with 2 pieces of tape across the 2 jets. This will be the side of the jests against the child's back and won't be visible.

Cut 2 thin strips of elastic for the child's arms to go through. Secure one piece of elastic to either side with 2 pieces of tape.

Have your child strap on the jet pack and blast off. Just be back in time for supper!

Here's a pretty Father's Day sign craft that will bring a big smile to Daddy's face. Kids need a lot of help from an adult for this craft.

Materials:

2 large sheets of card stock

various kinds of colorful paper, fabric, or old crafts

exacto knife or craft knife

cutting pad

masking tape

glue

Directions:

Print out the Word "Daddy" in big block letters. If you can print out onto card stock, that's great. If not, carefully cut out letters. Then use a ruler or straight edge and trace them onto the card stock in a straight line.

Lay the card stock on your cutting surface and use a sharp knife to carefully cut out the letters. Cut on the outside of the line to leave no lines on the paper.

Collect scraps of colorful patterned paper like origami paper, old crafts or fabric. Choose a different design for each letter.

Turn the card stock paper over. Cut each piece of colorful paper to fit behind each letter. Tape in place masking tape.

Cover the back with one more, slightly smaller sheet of card stock like a sandwich. Tap or glue in place.

This April Fool's Day Craft looks like spilled hot chocolate. Place it on the carpet and wait for your friend's reaction. Just say, "It wasn't me." and watch them laugh as they try to clean it up. This craft takes several days to dry, so start early.

Materials:

1 Styrofoam or paper cup

tacky glue

brown acrylic paint

1 plastic spoon

3 small marshmallows

wax paper

paintbrush

Directions:

Mix tacky glue with brown paint to look like hot chocolate.

Paint the mixture inside the side of the paper cup.

Lay the cup down on wax paper and pour or spoon the paint/glue mixture inside and around the outside of the cup to look like a spill.

place a plastic spoon and 3 marshmallows on the spill. Allow to dry for 2 or 3 days.

Trace and cut out handle and lock from black and yellow construction paper respectively.

Fold a sheet of red construction paper into thirds so that the flap is a little shorter on top.

Glue the the handle to the back and the lock on the front.

Glue the tools inside the toolbox.

Write "Happy Father's Day" on the front.

Variations:
If desired, you can glue an interesting design paper on the inside of the toolbox as shown on the website.
You could tape the sides of the bottom flap and middle together to make a pocket and place the tools inside.

Find good block letter templates to spell the word, "DAD". If you can print out onto card stock, great. If not, cut out the templates and trace onto card stock.

Trace the letters DAD onto a sheet of card stock. The letters should be the same size and should touch. Use a ruler so they are in a straight line. Cut out the word so the letters are stuck together. Use an exacto knife to carefully cut out the letter centers. Fold the word where the letters touch to make the card.

This Father's Day candy craft is a unique gift that keeps on giving. A way to a man's heart is through his stomach and Dad will be delighted to get this guitar covered in his favorite candy.

Materials:

white paper

pencil

scissors

large flat Styrofoam or thick cardboard.

gold foil or cellophane

brown construction paper

shiny string

ribbon

glue gun or other strong glue

lots of his favorite candy

Directions:

Draw and cut out a simple guitar design from white paper to make your template. It's easier to draw half a guitar on the fold, cut out and unfold.

Lay the template on a large flat piece of Styrofoam or thick cardboard and trace and cut out.

Cover the whole guitar in gold foil or cellophane and tape or glue in the back.

Cut out and glue on a brown circle where the hole in the guitar should be.

This is the fun part! Use a glue gun with an adult or other glue to attach his favorite candies all over the guitar. It's creative and kind of like decorating a gingerbread house. You could even glue candies at the top of the neck for the knobs to adjust the strings. Don't eat up all the candies before you finish.

If desired, glue on some shiny thread for the guitar strings and a long piece of ribbon for a guitar strap.

Variations:
You can go as simple or big on this as you want. Also, this idea could be used for other shapes. Instead of a guitar, make a piano, car, tennis racket, golf club, or hat. Whatever Dad's into